Guan Eng calls Soi Lek's bluff: Tell me where you are contesting and I'll be there!

In a challenge that may make Chua Soi Lek go wobbly at the knees, Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has demanded that he announce where he will be contesting in the 13th general election so that the DAP secretary-general himself can take on the MCA president.

"Will Chua Soi Lek dare to announce which seat he is contesting, then let me go to that constitutency and repeat Liow’s remarks that we are confident of defeating Chua then see how Chua will respond?" Guan Eng said in a statement issued on Wednesday.

The DAP leaderl was responding to a cross-fire between his party and the MCA, which began with a boast by MCA deputy president Liow Tiong Lai that the BN component party could “unseat any DAP candidate in Bagan”, the constituency now being held by Lim.

"Unlike MCA, DAP has not engaged in political games by boasting we will win or beat Liow in Bentong or Ng Yen Yen in Raub. Only MCA is making all these boasts. We therefore hope that Chua Soi Lek will stop deceiving the public on this matter," said Guan Eng.

MCA has lost the ear of the Chinese

Guan Eng is able to throw down the gauntlet with style. His DAP party is riding high and expected to help the Pakatan Rakyat opposition sweep the Chinese-dominated seats in GE-13.

By contrast, Soi Lek's MCA is regarded as the 'sick old man' of the BN, and may even be wiped out in GE-13 - a fate not dissimilar to the SUPP's in the recent Sarawak state elections.

Malaysians of all races are becoming increasingly frustrated at the BN's corrupt and government-knows-best politics.

In the 2008 election, they gave the Pakatan coalition led by Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim control of 5 of the country's 13 states, and are expected to further endorse the PKR-PAS-DAP combine in GE-13, which must be held by April 2013.

All eyes on Soi Lek

All eyes are now on how Soi Lek will respond to the challenge.

Already reviled for a sex scandal, Soi Lek faces further loss of 'face' and standing for himself and his party, with most pundits already saying that he may not even be able to announce any constituency to contest in if Prime Minister Najib Razak has his way and fielded only 'winnable' candidates.

A former Health minister, Soi Lek gave up his Labis parliamentary seat to his son Tee Yong. He has signaled that he wants a new seat for himself and is likely to ask Najib for a safe Umno seat, where he can rely on Malay support to win, having lost the confidence of his own community.

Umno-linked Malay rights group Perkasa has however vowed to ask the Malay electorate to not to vote for MCA, although founder Ibrahim Ali is unlikely to be able to influence his own community by much either despite the fiery sabre rattling that epitomizes BN politics.

MCA full of deception

Guan Eng also said that Chua is guilty of beguiling the public with deception when he alleged that the DAP and its partners in the Pakatan Rakyat had mismanaged the island state’s finances that resulted in so called budget deficits.

“Penang has no budget deficits but had recorded budget surpluses every year for the four years we are in power, certified by the Auditor-General Report. This is typical of MCA’s deceptive politics where black becomes white and white become black," Guan Eng added for good measure.

He added that Penang remains the only state throughout the country that has been praised by the world graft watchdog Transparency International for enforcing an open tender system to fight corruption.

Malaysia Chronicle